November, 2009 update: My birthday has passed, and I am finally getting close enough to my goal weight that I think it's time to see if I can figure out what that magical number truly is. For the purpose of my weight ticker, I just chose a number at approximately the mid-point of the desirable range from the BMI calculator that was a few pounds more than what my ideal weight was way back when I was a runner with no upper body strength. It was my plan to re-evaluate that goal once I ...

November, 2009 update: My birthday has passed, and I am finally getting close enough to my goal weight that I think it's time to see if I can figure out what that magical number truly is. For the purpose of my weight ticker, I just chose a number at approximately the mid-point of the desirable range from the BMI calculator that was a few pounds more than what my ideal weight was way back when I was a runner with no upper body strength. It was my plan to re-evaluate that goal once I started getting close, and now here I am.

The time has come to do something I've been wanting to do for a long time, and that is hire a personal trainer. I'm going to start with one session per week, which I believe will help keep me on track the rest of the week, and help prevent me from getting into a rut with my workouts during the holidays. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - I have been carrying around excess weight since the birth of my youngest child, over 20 years ago. I was very busy raising my family, working, etc. I knew I should make time to exercise and eat right, but there always seemed to be too many more pressing things to do. I was always very active and didn't have any health problems, so I would tell myself that it wasn't really hurting me to weigh those extra pounds, even though I knew that wasn't really true.

Several times I have lost some of it, but then I would lose my momentum and slip back into my old habits, and soon I would gain back whatever I had lost, plus a few more pounds. I told myself that "someday", when I had more time for myself, I would get serious about taking better care of myself.

About two years ago, my employer launched a wellness program at work. The kick-off was an on-site health screening, and since I hadn't been to my doctor for a regular checkup in a long time, I decided to participate . I was shocked when I stepped on the scales to see that I had reached an all-time personal high weight, my blood pressure was the highest reading I had ever had, my blood sugar was creeping up to the high end of the safe range, and my good cholesterol was at the low end of the recommended range. That really got my attention, and I began to exercise more regularly and watch what I ate.

I slowly lost some weight and by the time I went in for a physical about six months after the health fair scare, my blood pressure, etc., had all improved. I had more energy and just feIt better in general. I continued to lose some weight at a slow, but fairly steady rate, but a common mistake I made was over-indulging on the weekends or at social gatherings. I usually have quite a few of those social occasions, and there were more weeks than I care to admit when I just lost a pound or two, only to gain them back and have to lose them again. Not exactly the fastest way to reach a goal.

In my younger days, I ran 10K races. I loved running, because I was always motivated to exercise, and even was eager to get up early in the morning for my run. I am not a morning person by nature, so that was really incredible for me. But I began to have back and knee problems, and I just never seemed to be able to get back into the running groove again, although that was always what I thought I would have to do to get the weight off and keep it off.

I've heard over and over again that everyone needs to do strength training, but I've never enjoyed it and therefore, haven't done it very much, but it finally occurred to me that maybe that would be the way to strengthen my back and legs enough to be able to get back into running. At the beginning of this year, my gym offered some specials for small group sessions with a personal trainer, and I decided to give it a try. I signed up for two sessions a week for eight weeks, and it was one of the best investments I've ever made. Now I participate in a variety of group exercise classes that I was never brave enough to even try in the past.

I am still much more likely to do cardio activities on my own. I walk, hike, swim, ride my bicycle when the weather is nice. I'll run on the treadmill or use the elliptical trainer at my gym other times, but I am finally believing that I can keep up a good exercise regime without running being my only option.

"Beautiful Woman Award! Once you've been given this award, you have to paste it on the wall of 8 women who deserve it. If you receive more than 3, you know you're really beautiful! If you break the chain, nothing will happen, but it's always good to know someone thinks you're beautiful inside and out"